Development community assessment via real-time workspace monitoring

Abstract

Techniques are described for development community assessment via real-time workspace monitoring. In one example, a method includes outputting, to one or more servers, a first developer registration information for a developer matching service, and downloading an agent associated with the developer matching service to a developer workspace on the client, wherein the agent is configured to monitor the developer workspace. The method further includes outputting, to the servers, data obtained from monitoring the developer workspace by the agent, and receiving, from the servers, a message that a correspondence has been identified between code in the development environment and code in a second development environment registered with the developer matching service. The method further includes establishing a connection between the client and a collaboration platform including a social coding service that facilitates collaboration between the first and second development environments.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 outputting, with one or more processing devices of a client, for communication to one or more servers, a first developer registration information for a developer matching service; 
 downloading, with the one or more processing devices of the client, an agent associated with the developer matching service to a first developer workspace on the client, wherein the first developer workspace comprises a first development environment, and wherein the agent is configured to monitor the first developer workspace; 
 outputting, with the one or more processing devices of the client, for communication to the one or more servers, data obtained from monitoring of the first developer workspace by the agent; 
 receiving, with the one or more processing devices of the client, from the one or more servers, a message that a correspondence has been identified between a first unit of code in the first development environment and a second unit of code in a second development environment comprised in a second developer workspace registered with the developer matching service; and 
 establishing, with the one or more processing devices of the client, in response to receiving the message, a connection between the client and a collaboration platform comprising a social coding service that facilitates collaboration between the first development environment and the second development environment with respect to the first unit of code and the second unit of code. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the agent comprises a plug-in to the first development environment. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1  further comprising downloading, from the one or more servers, a report identifying trends in a development community, the report based at least in part on data obtained from monitoring of the first developer workspace by the agent. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a user input indicating a level of access for a respective project to allow matched developers to the respective project; and 
 incorporating the indicated level of access for the respective project as part of the first developer registration information. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the level of access comprises at least one of shared access to a source code repository, configuration for screen sharing, or configuration for file transfers. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data obtained from monitoring comprises one or more of library references, file and directory names, code comments, file types, or variable names detected in the first developer workspace. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first developer registration information comprises a selectable opt-in to functions of the first developer matching service. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the agent is configured to monitor a local directory of the first developer workspace. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein outputting the data for communication to the one or more servers comprises outputting the data in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) over Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). 
     
     
       10. A computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage mediums having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a computing device to:
 receive developer registration information from a client device; 
 responsive to receiving the developer registration information from the client device, create a developer profile; 
 send an agent to the client device, the agent configured to monitor a development environment of the client device, collect information associated with code written in the development environment, and transfer the information associated with code written in the development environment to one or more servers; 
 receive reports of the collected information from the agent resident on the client device; 
 analyze the collected information associated with code resident on the client device and other information associated with code resident on a second device associated with a second developer profile for a correspondence between the collected information and the other information; 
 determine, based at least in part on the analyzing of the collected information and the other information, that the correspondence exists between the collected information and the other information; and 
 send, based at least in part on the determining that the correspondence exists, a message associated with the correspondence to the client device. 
 
     
     
       11. The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the program code is further executable by the computing device to:
 analyze a plurality of data comprising the collected information and the other information to produce a report identifying trends in a development community. 
 
     
     
       12. The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the agent has communicative access to a local workspace location on a local filesystem on the client device. 
     
     
       13. The computer program product of  claim 12 , wherein the communicative access of the agent of the local workspace location configures the agent to monitor the local workspace location for code updates. 
     
     
       14. The computer program product of  claim 13 , wherein configuring the agent to monitor the local workspace location for code updates comprises configuring the agent to monitor automatic saves from a development environment program. 
     
     
       15. The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein analyzing the collected information comprises:
 using a confidence level to determine a similarity between units of code. 
 
     
     
       16. The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the developer registration information comprises current project information and information on programming languages used. 
     
     
       17. A computer system comprising:
 one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, and one or more computer-readable storage mediums; 
 program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive developer registration information from a client device; 
 program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to, responsive to receiving the developer registration information from the client device, create a developer profile; 
 program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to send an agent to the client device, the agent configured to monitor a development environment of the client device, collect information associated with code written by the developer, and transfer the information associated with code written by the developer to a monitoring server; 
 program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive reports of the collected information from the agent resident on the client device; 
 program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to analyze the collected information associated with code resident on the client device and other information associated with code resident on a second device associated with a second developer profile for a correspondence between the collected information and the other information; 
 program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to, based on the analysis of the collected information and the other information, determine that the correspondence exists between the collected information and the other information; and 
 program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to send, based on the determination that the correspondence exists, to the client device a message associated with the correspondence. 
 
     
     
       18. The computer system of  claim 17 , further comprising program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to analyze a plurality of data comprising the information and the other information to produce a report identifying trends in a development community. 
     
     
       19. The computer system of  claim 17 , wherein the program instructions to analyze the collected information comprise:
 program instructions to use a confidence level to determine a similarity between pieces of code. 
 
     
     
       20. The computer system of  claim 17 , wherein the developer registration information comprises current project information and information on programming languages used.